1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to management of wireless mobile stations and more particularly relates to a method and architecture for managing a selective set of mobile devices or stations via secure communication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two-way interactive communication mobile devices are among the fastest emerging communication devices that enable users to receive, collect, analyze, review and disseminate information as they travel or move about. The new mobile devices combine voice, data, and personal digital assistant (PDA) functionalities into a single portable device that provides not only the convenience of making phone calls but also the capability of accessing a myriad of public and enterprise information services in the Internet from anywhere at anytime. It is evident that the evolution of the mobile devices has been fueled by the demand for immediate access to information and made possible by the convergence of computing and communications technologies.
The essence of the services to the mobile devices provided by service providers (carriers) is the production and dissemination of mobile data including voice and messages over wireless communication networks. Many service providers offer various services through the devices, such as timed delivery of subscribed information, user accessible customer cares and customized group communications. To facilitate convenient uses of the services, the service providers need to set up human-staffed call centers or interactive response systems, allowing users to call in, for example, to inquire account information, request service changes or send specific information to a particular group of users. In a wireless environment, however, the call-in requests and facilities incur tremendous overhead costs to the service providers.
There is, therefore, a great need for a generic solution that provides the convenience of the services but without incurring substantial costs to the service providers. For example, an entity that may be a user or a corporation wants to update a call list to a selective group of the mobile devices so that a group call can be made within the group. Rather than asking a service provider to update the call list every time there is a change to the list, it is desirable for the entity to update and disseminate the list to a selective group of mobile devices through a secure communication means whenever the entity desires. There is a more practical example; a corporation wants to propagate an urgent proprietary message to its sale team on customer sites provided that the team members each have such mobile device. From the business perspective of the corporation, it is preferable or more secure for the corporation to directly broadcast the message to its sales team rather than forwarding the message to the service provider for further distribution. This leads to the need of secure management of mobile devices by an authorized entity over a secure communication means through which the authorized entity can disseminate or push mobile data to a selected group of mobile devices via the infrastructure of a service provider.